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Antonio Villaraigosa NOTABLE PERSONALITY
Translation by Peggy Edwards
Persona Notable verano 2005 |
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From an indigent and dangerous barrio in his childhood, to one of the most powerful positions within the Government of California, Antonio Villaraigosa is the creator of the most contrasting myth in America.
The town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels, has a mayor of Mexican extraction for the first time in 133 years
Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by Mexican families, mostly from Sinaloa, Sonora and Jalisco, Mexico. From 1781 to 1822 all the mayors were born in Mexico. This changed in 1823 to 1848, at which time the chosen mayors were children of Mexicans, born in Los Angeles, those who were established here and were owners of huge ranchos of the area.
The first white mayor Los Angeles had came from Missouri, Stephen Foster, who began his term in 1848, when the war between Mexico and the USA ended. A year later, upper California was invaded by hoards of whites who came in desperate search of gold, a period known as the “Gold Rush” of 1849. They were thieves and gamblers who came from the east of this country. They transformed the tranquility and harmony that reigned in the region to an unmanageable chaos. This lamentable cultural impact is documented in the city of Baldwin Park that owns a public monument whose inscription reads: “It was better before they came.”
After the war with Mexico, 24 very tumultuous years passed, with great efforts to consolidate public power and control of the land. This led to the election of 12 white mayors and only four Mexican American. The last mayor of Los Angeles of Mexican decent was Cristobal Aguilar, who completed his term in 1872. That was 133 years ago.
Antonio was born in East Los Angeles, a place he knows very well and where he lived a great part of his life. His mother Angelina, of Mexican parents who came here in 1903, and his father, a recent immigrant. The couple had four children, Antonio was the first who was followed by three beautiful daughters.
Unfortunately his father was an alcoholic. Antonio remembers with nostalgia the abuse his mother received and the drunken screaming. “I remember my little sister hiding under the bed when he would get home furious”, says Antonio. And when Antonio was only five, his father abandoned the family His mother took over the home and the raising of the four children and educated them in Boyle Heights. She took two jobs to support them and she would come back daily on a bus. She never had a car nor owned a home but she taught her children the value of hard work, honest and above all, the value of an unconquerable determination, which is manifested by the fact that her four children continued beyond high school and are all doing well. In spite of the insecure barrio Antonio grew up in, he was a very dedicated student. When Antonio was barely seven he decided to help his mother, so he would ride a bus to downtown Los Angeles to work shining shoes and selling newspapers.
When Antonio went to high school, Cathedral High, they discovered a tumor on his spine that began to paralyze his legs. After intense treatment, Antonio returned to normalcy but within him arose an unimaginable rebellion. He became a gang leader at school, he fought anyone who confronted him, and his dedication to school declined radically, to the point of having a 1.4 GPA. The school had no other solution than to expel him in 1969. He was enrolled in an alternate school but soon dropped out. After a while he reconsidered and returned to school where a teacher recognized his potential, and evee paid for his SAT Exam, and encouraged him to keep on studying. He participated actively in MECHA, a student group where perhaps, he began to clearly show his tendency towards leadership in that stage of rediscovery and personal growth. He graduated from High School, and then graduated from UCLA and studied law at night school.
When Antonio was already a known activist and Assemblyman, 29 years after having been expelled, Cathedral High offered him an emotional ceremony, where the now public leader was given a diploma, the class ring and the school jacket. For Antonio that celebration was one of the most touching in his life.
He met Corina Raigosa, who he fell in love with and married shortly after. Surprisingly, they did what had never been done before. They united their two last names to form one, the one they will carry through life. So Antonio Villa and Corina Raigosa, upon uniting in matrimony, melded their two last names to one, Villaraigosa.
Presently Antonio lives in the area of Mt. Washington, in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife Corina, and two of his younger children. The couple has four Marisela, Prisila, Antonio, Jr., Natalie Fe and an adorable granddaughter. They share their home with Butterscotch and Caramelo, their two dogs.
Among his innumerable feats, Antonio had led the battle to improve our schools, to protect worker rights, to give medical care to uninsured children and to make our neighborhoods safer places.
In 1994, Antonio was elected to the state Assembly, and barely four years later, his colleagues in the legislature voted to make him the first President of the Assembly from Los Angeles in 25 years. As President, Antonio was recognized for constructing ample and bipartisan coalitions, including the historical legislature of the state in order to modernize public schools; stricter prohibition of assault weapons for the country, park initiative in urban neighborhoods, and the program “Healthy Families” which provides medical care for more than 600,000 children in California.
In 2001 he did not win the Mayoral election of Los Angeles, but UCLA and USC named him distinguished associate and there he helped write “After Sprawl,” a political model giving potential solutions to the challenges many cities confront.
In 2003 Antonio returned to public service to represent the communities of the east and northeast where he lived most of his life. As part of his commission to improve public security, Antonio was author of an Initiative of Improved Overtime to help the LAPD send police to points of major crime. As President of the Transportation Committee and member of the board of directors of the MTA, he has worked to improve transportation services and was credited with helping to resolve the bus strike in 2003. Antonio and his personnel have organized and have given new life to Neighborhood Watch Programs and mobilized thousand of residents to participate in projects to clean vacant lots and buildings that have been vandalized.
Antonio won the mayoral position of the city of Los Angeles because of his honest government platforms and his ambitious goals for the city that has given him so much.
Los Angeles has always been a city with big dreams and infinite possibilities. The men and women who built this city understood that progress depends on the people who see what can be rather than what is, and who are ready to work to realize it. The great Hispanic leaders of the past were not content with being second class citizens. Antonio Villaraigosa is an activist who has a clear vision and determination for the future of Los Angeles and a plan to direct his followers, where he will himself work daily to realize it.
“Los Angeles is one of the most polluted cities of the United States, I will work to improve that, and in spite of the fact that the Los Angeles River is known throughout the country and the whole world thanks to racecar scenes and persecutions seen in movies such as “Grease” and “Terminator 2”, it is not exactly the pride of the city. I envision creating parks and walkways for enjoyment of the people,” says Antonio Villaraigosa.
“Tourists from this country and all over the world come in great numbers to visit our beaches, to swim, surf, kayak, or sail. Unfortunately our ocean is very polluted and that must change immediately. Measures will be taken against those who throw toxic garbage in the storm drains and in the ocean. The Port of Los Angeles is an enormous economic engine, but it is also a giant polluting machine that pollutes the air as well as the water, and exposes poor people who live in the area to health hazards. They are victims of air pollution, toxic agents and industrial garbage. One third of its children have asthma and cancer statistics are the highest of the region. Besides Los Angeles continues to be the smog capital of the United States. Public transportation must be improved to reduce congestion and smog production, so clean air will be our priority,” promises Antonio
Villaraigosa.
He has also proposed transforming green garbage into energy, and educating everyone as to how to reduce, reutilize and recycle. He will not rest until 100% of garbage is recycled. He will also dedicate his time to protecting and improving the potable water of Los Angeles because it is one of its most valuable resources.
Antonio Villaraigosa counts with the unconditional support of the Vice Governor, Cruz Bustamante and from the different minorities, which compose the vast ethnic diversity of Los Angeles. “As Mayor of Los Angeles I will focus and concentrate on what we have in common instead of our differences,” says Antonio Villaraigosa. Brilliant determination, considering Los Angeles holds the most diverse mass of humanity of the United States, where 48% are Hispanic, 31% white, 11% Asian and 10% are black.
Antonio Villaraigosa is proud of his Hispanic roots but he knows his function to guide Los Angeles, will be impartial and he will govern all Angelinos the same, without favoritism towards any racial group. He promises to form the most ethnically diverse administration Los Angeles has ever had.
That Antonio Villaraigosa won the Mayor’s seat of Los Angeles is an historical fact for a city which, in spite of its Spanish name, last had a Hispanic mayor in 1872. It’s a city of 3.9 million, the second largest of the nation, but that ethnically, geographically and economically is very divided. This will be the challenge the mayor will confront. But his ability to work with different ideologies, of building bridges between irreconcilable differences, and all he learned in his life full of contrasts and challenges, will give him the know how to guide Los Angeles to victory and make it better than ever.
From the indigent and dangerous barrio of his childhood, to one of the most powerful positions in the Government of California, Antonio Villaraigosa is the creator of the most contrasting myth of America. And in spite of the complexity of the job that awaits him, nothing will be new for this fighter who began earning money when he was only seven. Who it seems overcomes impossible adversity with a passion which generates more energy and solutions in this complex world and whose plate is full of palatable victories.
“Antonio is an example for our Latino community of ‘It can be done.’ In spite of coming from a dysfunctional family, of poor resources, in spite of having dropped out of high school and having to sacrifice for his family, he shows us that all depends on the decisions we make and believing in ourselves.” -Mabel Katz, EA, ABA., director of the program Despertar, TV Azteca
“Your victory Antonio, you who are son of Mexican immigrants, which through your sacrifice represents the culmination of the American dream, goes beyond superficial lines. Above all it is the sign of the demographic transformations that American society will (continue to) experience in the near future, where in 2050 the Hispanic population will triple while the population of the USA will reach 420 million. It is the sign of new times, where a new generation of Hispanics, graduated from the university or institutions of civil society who like you, every day become of greater significance in national politics.” Hugo Merida- Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles
“This is a great victory for Latinos.” Says Lisa Garcia Bedolla, a political expert at the University of California, Irvine “The idea that one can be taken so seriously at this level, indicates society has taken a new direction,” she concludes.
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